Banana Chia Pudding by eZG

This simple Chia Pudding recipe will be the hit of any gathering. 

 

• Ingredients

  1 organic banana
  1 can of organic whole coconut milk
  1/4 teaspoon of organic cinnamon
  2 tbsp of organic brown sugar
  1 tbsp of honey                                                                                                                            3- 4tbsp of chia seeds 

• Instructions

  1. Put the banana, coconut milk, cinnamon. sugar and honey in a blender and blend for approximately 30 seconds.
  2. Pour into a glass bowl and add chia seeds. Stir
  3. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
  4. Serve in individual bowls. Top with slices of banana, cinnamon and/or pieces of toasted coconut.

• Marian's Personal Touches

  1.I prefer the flavor of coconut milk but you can use any milk substitute such as almond or flax milk. It will take longer to set
  2. I have used up to 4 tablespoons of chia seeds - it will depend on individual taste and texture desired.
  3. Be creative with the toppings.

Erewhon Organic Cereals

Erewhon Organic Cereals sent me cereals to try; Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice and Erewhon Corn Flakes. The ingredients in these cereals are simple and Gluten-Free, Organic, NON-GMO, and high quality. 

Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice: Organic brown rice, Organic brown rice syrup, Sea salt.

Erewhon Corn Flakes: Organic Milled corn, sea salt

In addition to using these products as a basic cereal, they can be used for cooking and baking.

1. Erewhon Corn Flakes can be put in a clean coffee grinder or food processor and ground into a bread crumb consistency. You can add spices such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme etc and mix it together. These "bread crumbs" can be used as a coating for chicken cutlets and  fish fillets.

2. Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal can be used as a substitute for any recipe that requires rice crispy cereal. Use them in baking items such as Rice crispy treats or Buckeyes. (Buckeye recipe below)

image by http://www.hobbyfarms.com/food-and-kitchen/candy-making.aspx

Buckeyes:

18 oz of organic peanut butter or organic almond butter
1/2 box organic confectioner sugar
3 cups GF Organic Rice Crispies
4 oz of earth balance or a solid butter substitute

Mix the above ingredients together - roll into balls - lay on wax paper (on cookie sheet) and refrigerator for a while.
 1 package chocolate chips
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Dip balls into chocolate & lay on wax paper (use chop sticks to move them)
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Chicken Piccata Gluten Free And Dairy Free by eZG.

I was inspired by saydidyousee.wordpress.com. The image is from their blog page. I took their recipe and converted it to gluten-free and dairy-free and WOW it is great.

• Serves	Cook Time	Total Time	Prep Time
  4 Servings	20 minutes	40 minutes	20 minutes

• Ingredients 

  4 boneless chicken breasts (sliced in half the long way so they are thin)
  2 large lemons
  1/2 cup of gluten-free flour blend or (1/4 cup brown rice flour and 1/4 cup potato starch)
  salt and pepper
  4 tbsp of canola oil or grape-seed oil
  1 small shallot
  1 cup of chicken broth
  2 tbsp capers
  3 tbsp of alternative butter such as Earth Balance, Ghee, or Coconut Oil
  2 tbsp of minced fresh parsley
  
  

  Instructions

• 1. Place rack In the center of the oven and turn on heat to 200 degrees. Place an empty heatproof glass container on the rack.
  2.  Cut 1 lemon in half the long way and remove the ends. Cut the lemon in many very thin slices.
  3. Juice the rest of the lemons so you have 1/4 cup of lemon juice and put aside.
  4. Combine flour mixture with salt and pepper and place in pie pan or shallow plate.
  5. Take already cut chicken pieces and drudge with flour mixture. Shake of excess flour.
  6.  Heat a 12 inch skillet for approx. 2 minutes then add 2 tbsp oil. Spread in pan and place chicken in pan.
  7. Saute chicken for approx 2 1/2 minutes on each side.Thicker pieces need more time. Turn and repeat.
  8. Remove the browned chicken and place in glass container in oven.
  9. Using the same pan add shallots. Put heat on medium. Saute approx. 30 seconds. Add broth, and lemon slices. Increase heat to high and scrape the browned pieces on the bottom of pan. Simmer on high heat until the liquid is reduce to approx. 1/3 cup.
  10. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until there is 1/3 cup of liquid left.
  11. Remove pan from heat and add butter alternative and parsley. Sauce will thicken.
  12. Remove chicken from over and pour over chicken.
  13. Serve immediately

I Am Back and Posting

Good Morning,
I have been helping  dear friends pack and move this week. My body is tired and achy from the experience yet I enjoyed being able to help. I especially enjoyed spending so much time with my friends. Their new home is lovely - filled with life yet peaceful and serene. I am happy to be a part of such a great transition. 

Of course spending so much time with them meant not spending time with you. I just realized I have not posted since April 4th, 9 days ago. I have tried to keep up on Facebook and Pinterest though.  

You can read about Wertherly Caramels, a simple way to peel garlic, what is in your fridge, PF Chang voted #2 Gluten Free restaurant in the country and more on Facebook. 

My favorite new recipe on Pinterest is by Earth Balance, Kale Salad with Curried Peanut Sauce. 
Please use gluten-free soy sauce. 

 

 ENJOY!

Gluten-Free Easter Baskets Ideas

Easter is just a few weeks away. Candy is one of the places gluten can be hiding. 
There are several things you need to look for:
1. Malt is usually made from barley.Look for malt, malt barley.
2. Caramel may contain gluten. It would need to be confirmed with the individual companies.  
3. Modified food starch can also contain gluten. especially if from another country.
4. Of course there is the obvious; candy can be filled with cookies, crackers, wafers and pretzels.
5. Beware that often the holiday decoration on candy has gluten. See's candy and Reese's are 2 brands that have gluten in it. 
 6. gffoodie.com pasted a detailed list of GF and non-GF Easter Candies: 

CANDY AT A GLANCE 

Brands/Companies that are 100% gluten-free

Annies Ce De Candy(Smarties)

Crispy Cats

EndangeredSpecies Chocolates

Enjoy Life

Jelly Bellys

Pearson’s(Salted Nut Rolls, Mint Patties, Nut Goodies and Bun Bars)

Surf Sweets( Gummy Worms Etc)

Toostie (All except Andes Cookies)

Yummy Earth

Brands that have some gluten-free options

Annabelle

Cadbury Adams
Ferrara Pan (Gummy bears etc)

HERSHEY’S

ImpactConfection’s (Warheads)

Just Born (MIKE AND IKE®,HOT TAMALE ®, PEEPS®, GOLDENBERG’S PEANUT CHEWS®, TEENEE NEANEE® AND JUST BORN® BRANDS HAVE SOM E  GF ITEMS)

NECCO

See’s Candy (Claim all products do not contain gluten - check holiday decorations)

SpanglerCandy

Brands that are gluten-free but may be exposed to cross contamination

Airhead

RussellStover

TobleroneChocolates (Websites says it is GF but does not mention equipment uses.)

Brands that are not gluten-free

Godiva

LindtChocolates

Brands that do not have a gluten-free list and request the consumer read ingredient labels.

Mars

ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK BY GOING  TO THE WEBSITE AND LOOKING FOR FAQ'S.

HAPPY EASTER!

My Food Allergies!

Food allergies: I have had them for years. The 1st to surface was sunflower seeds. I was in my early 20's when I had a reaction to them. Since then I had stirred clear, so I was not sure if I was really allergic to them until a couple of weeks ago...

While I was at the Expo, I received samples of the new gluten-free and dairy-free Zing bars. One was a Double Brownie and the other Dark Chocolate Mint Bar or that is what the package said. Sometime the next week I ate the bars.I usually have 1/2 at time, so I ate them over a few days.

During the week the roof of my mouth was itchy and so were the palm of my hands. For me, this is the 1st signs of an allergic reaction so I pulled out my Epi Pen, took natural allergy medicine and prayed. I never needed the Epi Pen and it subsided but returned again several times over the next few days. I had no idea what had caused this small reaction since I am usually extreme careful.

I was doing the post on protein bars and went to the Zing website to capture photos when I saw that the mint bar had a different label. Dark Chocolate Sunflower Mint. I did a little research and it has sunflower seed butter as the 5th ingredient as well as sunflower oil and sunflower lecithin.

 
Stay Safe.

Understanding Label Icons

Understanding the ingredients on labels can be frustrating.            
1. Is gluten-free the same as certified gluten-free?
2. Is Non-GMO the same as Organic?             

1. Gluten-Free Labeling vs. Certified Gluten-Free

The FDA has changed the requirements for gluten-free labels which is below. 
See my post about the new labeling laws. The standards for companies labeling foods gluten-free will be 20 ppm as required by the FDA. Read "Understanding PPM" .The products are NOT required to be continually tested   or undergo any formally reviews. 

When a company is certified gluten-free they have undergone an extensive review and numerous tests have been performed on the products and the manufacturing facility. The company must maintain these standards to be called Certified gluten-free. You will see labels like this one:


 
2. GMO = genetically modified organisms
GMO's are foods that have been engineered or altered. According to http://whfoods.com/, GMO vary greatly from the older practices of cross pollinating or grafting plants. The concern with  GMO's is that the genetic engineering is not necessarily between 2 plants."With modern genetic engineering, genes from an animal, plant, bacterium, or virus are inserted into a different organism (most often a plant), thereby irreversibly altering the genetic code, the "blueprint" that determines all of an organism's physical characteristics, of the organism that received the gene." There is a lot of buzz about GMO's and the effects they have on the human digestive system. Alfalfa, Corn, cotton, soy, sugar beets, summer squash and zucchini are a few of the corps that are heavily GMO. Go to Non-GMO Project Verified to see a detailed list.

Non -GMO: Non-GMO Project Verified is a third party organization that is qualified to certify produce as Non-GMO. When you see this label you can be assured that the produce or food products is void of GMO ingredients
In order to qualify for the seal the products must be continually tested. That being said, it does not mean that the produce or food product is free of               chemicals, pesticides etc.


Organic foods are always Non-GMO foods. Yet it is not required to have food tested for Non-GMO's in order to be certified organic. It is possible that the organic crops have been exposed to cross -contamination from GMO fields.

According to the USDA (United States Agricultural Dept.) 
"Certified Organic" means the item has been grown according to strict uniform standards that are verified by independent state or private organizations. Certification includes inspections of farm fields and processing facilities, detailed record keeping, and periodic testing of soil and water to ensure that growers and handlers are meeting the standards which have been set."




References:
1. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=207
2. http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/understanding-our-seal/
3. http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/ofp/ofp.shtml